COLUMBUS — An excited Sen. Sherrod Brown charged onto the stage to deliver his acceptance speech after being re-elected Tuesday night, but his voice could not keep up with his enthusiasm.
“This race was never about me,” Brown rasped before his voice gave out and he passed his speech to his wife, Connie Schultz, amid loud cheers and applause.
Brown won 2,636,031 votes — or about 50 percent — statewide to defeat his Republican challenger, Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, who won 2,357,530 votes — about 45 percent, according to data from the Ohio Secretary of State as of press time.
Final results will not be released until at least 10 days after the election.
Brown said neither he nor Mandel won the race Tuesday evening — it was the middle class who came out on top.
“It’s about the veteran in Columbus, the waitress in Waverly, the small businessman in Marietta,” he said. “We fought back against secretive out-of-state influences trying to impose their will on our state. But the middle class won — again.”
Schultz, who completed the majority of Brown’s speech, finished by correcting former Sen. Mark Hanna’s famous quote about politics.
“There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money,” Schultz said. “Mark didn’t know what the second one was. In Ohio, we know what the second thing is: The second thing is you.”
At the same time, Mandel gave his concession speech at a nearby Columbus hotel.
“I appreciate you all being there for me. … While we may not be victorious, they have made our country very proud,” he said. “This isn’t the end of a fight; this is the beginning of a fight. The issues we stand for don’t end tonight. They continue tonight.”
The Rev. Jesse Jackson was in attendance for Brown’s speech.
“There’s been a record of growth,” Jackson said. “The sun is beginning to break through, and people are moving toward the light.”
Schultz said Mandel and his supporters spent the most money on a U.S. Senate campaign in history.
“They don’t know Ohio,” Schultz said. “They don’t know that Ohio cannot be bought!”
ag881210@ohiou.edu
— Lindsay Friedman contributed to this story.
